The same day. Yu Gong Province, Middle Three Continents.
In a small cave on the eastern side of Cuiwei Village, a woman slowly opened her eyes. A glimmer of deep purple light flashed through her pupils before vanishing.
‘…Although the spiritual energy here isn’t very abundant, fortunately, there are plenty of medicinal ingredients. I’ve finally managed to shapeshift.’
Ling Yao looked at the dilapidated alchemy furnace not far away, then at the floor covered in medicinal dregs and failed Shapeshifting Pills, and sighed helplessly.
Her skill in alchemy was actually not low; after all, she had been taught by Yun Heng. However, three or four thousand years had passed since the last time she had refined a pill.
Additionally, as a member of the flood dragon race, she was naturally insensitive to fire-attributed spiritual energy.
Using a makeshift, self-built furnace meant she could only regain her “feeling” for the craft through a series of constant explosions.
Ling Yao stood up and used a ripple of water to condense a mirror. She stared at herself in the reflection — looking slightly haggard, but no longer possessing any demon race characteristics — and became momentarily lost in thought.
One month ago, Ling Yao had successfully proven that she harbored no ill will toward Yun Heng. From Blackie, she had learned of Yun Heng’s whereabouts and his plan to travel to the Lower Three Continents.
However, after visiting Liancui Lake out of curiosity, she had set aside her urgent desire to pursue him and instead began her secluded cultivation.
Viewed from the front, it’s a mountain range; from the side, a single peak. Far, near, high, or low, every perspective is different.
What Blackie saw was a benefactor who had set things right, someone worth following and learning from. What Jiang Keke saw was a lazy, gentle, yet unfathomable family member.
What Du Ruolan saw was a brilliantly talented junior who held power but knew restraint. But what Ling Yao saw, reflected in the inscriptions on the stone tablet, was a state of mind she had sought for ten thousand years but never obtained.
Standing by the shore of Liancui Lake, her fingertips had brushed over the newly erected stone monument.
He had written: ‘If you see injustice, think of breaking the shackles; if you encounter a different opinion, listen to its voice.’ He hadn’t mentioned a single word about his own achievements.
He had stirred the winds and clouds, cleansing a thousand years of filth, only to withdraw completely once the task was finished. It was as if he had merely brushed away a fallen leaf, his gaze already fixed on the distant mountain mists.
This reminded Ling Yao of something Yun Heng had said to her long ago: “Xiao Jiu, the hardest thing in this world is not ‘getting.’ It is being able to remember ‘why you started’ after you have ‘gotten’ it, and being willing to ‘turn around and leave.'”
At that time, her heart had been entirely focused on the restoration of the flood dragon race and her thirst for power. She had only half-understood his meaning.
Now that ten thousand years had passed, looking back at the path she had walked, she finally understood.
Whether in his past life or this one, and whether or not Yun Heng possessed his memories, he never cared about who made the world better; he only cared if the world was actually becoming better.
Her Yun Heng — the husband who would smile while telling her jokes, who would clumsily comb her hair, and who would fly into a rage because she was injured… had he always been like this?
Had she simply been blinded by “love,” never truly seeing the vast starry sky within his core?
This realization brought Ling Yao a bone-chilling coldness that was even deeper than the discovery that Yun Heng “no longer loved her”… and a throb of excitement.
The chill came from the sudden realization that she might have never truly understood her husband.
She loved his gentleness, relied on his wisdom, and enjoyed his protection, yet she had never touched the most central, most distant part of his soul.
The throb of excitement came from the fact that Ling Yao found herself loving Yun Heng even more than before.
However, she knew that the current Yun Heng would not easily stop for her just because of her tears and remorse.
Therefore, she had set aside her desperate pursuit.
If she rushed to meet him now, she would only be speaking of her “needs” and her “regrets,” which were likely the things he cared about the least.
She needed to first become someone capable of having a “dialogue” with him.
Thus, Ling Yao stayed near Cuiwei Village and found a cave for seclusion.
On one hand, she used the clumsiest methods to regain her alchemy skills and complete her shapeshifting, compensating for the weaknesses of her physical body in this life.
On the other hand, she repeatedly observed and contemplated all the traces Yun Heng had left at Liancui Lake — the concept of “guidance and symbiosis” contained within the modified formations and the magnanimity of “accommodating ten thousand paths” flowing through the inscriptions.
She had to catch up to his “vision” before she could walk by his “side” again.
Ling Yao put away the water mirror. Her gaze pierced through the cave as if it could cross thousands of mountains and rivers to see that scholar in green robes, perhaps leisurely sipping tea somewhere.
“The little Book Boy by his side… if I remember correctly, her name is Jiang Keke, right?”
Ling Yao murmured to herself as she stepped out of the cave, pondering their current itinerary.
She could actually guess Yun Heng’s next step: raising his cultivation.
This was also the first thing Yun Heng had done after picking her up in their past life.
“But why head to the Lower Three Continents…?”
The cultivation world was commonly known as the Nine Provinces, divided into the Upper, Middle, and Lower Three Continents.
The closer a region was to the boundary, the thinner the spiritual energy and the weaker the overall strength of the cultivators.
Among them, the demon race, human race, and dragon race occupied one, six, and two provinces respectively.
However, the demon race resided in the “Gui Xu” of the Lower Three Continents, while the dragon race held “Kunlun” and “Gui Cang” in the Upper Three Continents.
The gap was obvious.
Although one or two cultivators in the Tribulation Transcendence stage would occasionally appear even in the Lower Three Continents, at the same boundary, the gap between them and a rogue cultivator from the Upper Three Continents was wider than the gap between a rogue cultivator and a sect prodigy.
So, Ling Yao did not understand why Yun Heng would take Jiang Keke there to “raise her cultivation.”
Rather than wasting time in a blind search, it was better to “wait for the rabbit” at a major event she knew Yun Heng had taken her to in their past life.
As long as Yun Heng didn’t have his past memories and wasn’t intentionally hiding from her, the probability of them meeting was very high.
Ling Yao withdrew her thoughts and looked toward the east.
In exactly seven days, King Zhao of Yu Gong Province would hold a “Military Drill” with King Chu, King Qi, and other dynasties. It was an event held every ten years.
In her past life, Yun Heng had taken her to watch it for a long time and had given her an “Ordinary Shell” that looked very much like her own scales, which she had worn for ten thousand years.
At the thought of this, Ling Yao’s face couldn’t help but turn slightly red.
There were certain customs she had never told Yun Heng. One of them was that the flood dragon race often used shells as… well… what the human race called “tokens of affection” when expressing love, entering a marriage contract, or marking an important anniversary.
Even though no one was around, Ling Yao coughed twice, pretending she hadn’t just lost her composure.
But before that, she had one more thing to do.
She had to enlighten the Stone Spirit ahead of time.
Aside from Yun Heng, Shizi was also one of her most important family members.
“This way, no matter how unpredictable fate is, when the three of us meet again, everything will eventually return to the right track.”
Filled with hope, the girl sped off in the direction she remembered.
“Speaking of which, Young Master, it seems there’s some kind of ‘Military Drill’ in Yu Gong Province these days. Aren’t we going to join the fun? (Expectant)”
“Have your injuries healed yet? You want to go join the fun? Someone who had fifty matches and only managed three net wins has the nerve to think about relaxing?”
“(Gritting teeth) I don’t know who it is that acts so arrogant every time we visit someone. People who know you think it’s just an act, but those who don’t think we’re just there to pick a fight!”
“They don’t hold back at all. And you always pick experts at the peak of Foundation Establishment or the late-stage of Golden Core to fight me. It’d be a miracle if I could win!”
“Hehe”
“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t spit out that high-quality medicinal soup I just fed you! Those are all hard-earned spirit stones!”